NASA Astronauts Shave Heads After U.S. World Cup Loss to Germany (Photos, Video)

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For two American astronauts aboard the International Space
Station, losing a bet meant losing their hair.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Steve Swanson got a space-based
head shaving yesterday courtesy of German crewmember Alexander
Gerst. The three spaceflyers wagered on the United States-Germany
World Cup match on Thursday (June 26), which Germany won 1-0.
(You can watch a video
of the World Cup head shaving as well.)

"Our condolences on your loss today for Steve and Reid," someone
from NASA's Mission Control in Houston radioed up to the station
before the shaving. "Flight wanted to point out that bald is more
aerodynamic when flying."

The three astronauts had a friendly wager going as the two teams
faced off: If Germany lost, Swanson and Wiseman would get the
chance to draw an American flag on Gerst's (already bald) head,
but because the U.S. national soccer team fell to the European
nation 1-0, Gerst got the chance to shave Wiseman and Swanson
bald.

The three space station crewmembers posted photos of the shaving
on social media. One of the images even shows a World
Cup match playing on the computer in the background. "It was
nice to wake up this morning and not worry about my hair. There
isn’t any," Wiseman wrote on Twitter Friday (June 27).

Wiseman, Gerst and Swanson have been showing off their soccer
spirit all week. On Wednesday (June 25), NASA released a
video of the three astronauts playing a microgravity version
of the sport in the modules of the space laboratory. The three
crewmembers performed their versions of a goal celebration dance,
and NASA's Robonaut 2 — the humanoid robot designed to eventually
help the astronauts with space station work — also did a little
jig for the camera.

Even though the U.S. lost the match against Germany, the
Americans will continue on in the tournament — which happens
every four years — because they ranked high enough in their group
to advance.

Wiseman, Swanson and Gerst are joined on the space station by
three cosmonauts: Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Maxim
Suraev. The six crewmembers make up the station's Expedition 40
crew.